Caitlin Clark’s professional basketball career took flight on Monday night when the University of Iowa star was selected by the Indiana Fever with the No 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft.
The all-time scoring leader in major college basketball history, whose fast-paced, crowd-pleasing style has drawn millions of new fans to the sport in recent months, formally entered the paying ranks when her name was called first by WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert before a sold-out audience of about 1,000 spectators at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
“I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was in second grade, and it’s taken a lot of hard work, a lot of ups and downs,” Clark said from the stage. “More than anything, (I’m) trying to soak it in.”
The selection itself was a formality. The 22-year-old Iowa sensation was hotly tipped for Indiana, which had secured the rights to the top pick by winning the WNBA draft lottery in December, from the moment Clark announced plans to forgo her final season of college eligibility in February.
Her impending arrival with the Fever has driven ticket sales around the circuit – two WNBA teams have already moved their games against Indiana to larger arenas to accommodate demand – and prompted the league to announce last week that all but four of the Fever’s regular-season games will be carried on national television.
“I can’t imagine a more perfect fit, a better place for me to start my professional career, an organization that really just believes in women’s basketball and wants to do everything the right way,” said Clark, who wore an oversized white Prada jacket, shimmering silver crop top and miniskirt. “I couldn’t be more excited to get there.”
The draft continued on Monday evening with Cameron Brink, a 6ft 4in forward from Stanford, going second to the Los Angeles Sparks.
“I love that I get to stay on the West Coast, and I love that they took a chance on me,” Brink said. “I feel like I’m just going to show that I can work really hard and help them a lot.”
South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso went third to the Chicago Sky, who had acquired the pick in a trade with the Phoenix Mercury. The Sparks were up again at No 4, choosing Rickea Jackson from Tennessee. Dallas tabbed Ohio State’s Jacy Sheldon at No 5 and Washington took Connecticut’s Aaliyah Edwards at No 6.
Angel Reese, the popular LSU star who announced she was entering the draft in Vogue, set off the biggest crowd reaction of the night besides Clark when she was chosen by the Chicago Sky with the seventh pick.
Minnesota chose Utah’s Alissa Pili at eighth. Carla Leite of France was the first international player off the board, going to Dallas with the No 9 pick. Her countrywoman, Leila Lacan, went 10th to Connecticut. New York selected Mississippi’s Marquesha Davis at No 11, while Atlanta chose the Australian Nyadiew Puoch at No 12 to close out the first round.
It’s been a whirlwind week for Clark since her Hawkeyes came up short against South Carolina in an NCAA women’s basketball tournament final that drew more US television viewers than the men’s final for the first time in history.
She flew to Los Angeles to accept the John R Wooden Award as the national’s top women’s college basketball player for the second year in a row, then to Iowa City for a celebration of the team at the Hawkeyes’ home arena, then to New York where the draft has generated an unprecedented buzz throughout the run-up.
Since her arrival, Clark made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live and headlined a group of WNBA draft hopefuls on Monday morning to light the Empire State Building.
The 6ft combo guard, who joins a promising young core in Indianapolis that includes Aliyah Boston (last year’s No 1 overall pick), NaLyssa Smith and Kelsey Mitchell, will be a welcome addition to a Fever organisation that had the WNBA’s second-lowest attendance last year and which hasn’t reached the playoffs since Tamika Catchings’ final season in 2016.
The WNBA didn’t even wait for Monday’s draft to start capitalizing on Clark’s soaring profile. The league announced last Wednesday that 36 of Indiana’s 40 games will be featured on national television through their broadcast or streaming partners, a dramatic leap for a team that had just one nationally televised contest in 2023. Eight of those games will air on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2, while others will be on ION, NBA TV, Prime Video, and the CBS Sports/Television Network.
